Washing machine



April 1s,12e.. 1,580,778

0. A. COVERSTONE WASHING MACHINE Filed July 18, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet l Igwuwntoz O A Covera'd'one.

April .13., 1926. 1,580,778

0. A. COVERSTONE WASHING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet Filed July 18, 1925Patented Apr. 13, 19 26. 7

UNITED STATES 080m A. covnns'rorm, or rnnnnn'ron, 01110.

WASHING MACHINE.

Application filed July 18', 1925. Serial No. 44,548.

- To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OSCAR A. CovERsToNE,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Pemberton, in the county ofShelby .and

State .of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inWashing Machines, of which the following is a speclfication.

This invention relates to a washing ma.-

chine of the type in which articles to becleaned are placed in areceptacle and water caused to circulate in the receptacle and by sodoing cleanse the articles. 7

One object of the invention is to provide improved agitator 'means whichare positioned in the'lower portion of the receptacle and so constructedthatthe water 'will,be' caused to have a whi'rling motion in thereceptacle;

,Another object of the invention is to so construct the agitator meansthat the water when in motion will be directed towardsthe walls of thereceptacle and impinge against blades'extending radially from'thewallsof the receptacle so that theouter peripheral portion of the mass of.whirling water will be broken u and directed inwardly,

Another 0 ject of the invention isto so form the cups carried by theagitator that the mass of whirling water will be directed upwardly aswell as having (motion imparted thereto. Another o'b'ect of theinvention is to so form the receptacle and blades carried thereby thatthe agitator may he put in place or renlioved through the upper end ofthe receptao e. v

Another object of the invention is to pro- Yide a washing machine inwhich the receptacle is supported upon a stand-or frame and the agitatorshaft mounted in a bearing car:

ried by the bottom of the receptacle, the

shaft extending downwardly into the frame and carrying a gear adapted tobe moved into and out of mesh with a gear carried by. a drive shaftwhich is rotatably mounted in the frame. p

Another. object of the invention is to so arrange the shafts that abearing supported in the frame may serve to rotatably engage the lowerend of the agitator shaft and inner end of the drive shaft.

a whirling* This invention is illustrated in the accom panying drawings,wherein- 1 Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view through the washingmachine;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken I on the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional viewtaken through the supporting frame,and

Fig. 4-is a sectional view taken through one of the supporting legs onthe line 4-4; of Fig. 1.

The receptacle 1 of the washing machine is mounted upon a support,indicated in general by the numeral 2, and is secured to the support bystrips 3 which are riveted to the support and receptacle. The receptacleis provided with a bottom 1 and waiis 5 which extend upwardly from thebottom and at their upper ends are formed into a neck- -6 which receivesthe cover 7 The walls between, the bottom 1 and neck, 6 are bulgedoutwardly, as shown in Fig. 1, and carry blades 8 which extend radiallyof the receptacle, as shown in Fig, 2. The blades 8 extendlongitudinallyof the receptacle from a point inspaced relation to theupper end thereof to-the bottom 1 and are tapered downwardly, as shownin Fig. 2, with their extreme lower end portionscurved so that theyextend circumferential:

1y of the receptacle, as shown in Fig. 2. The upper ends of the bladesare curved towards the walls of the receptacle so that the agitator maybe. easily passed downwardly between the blades to its position at thebottom of the receptacle.

. The support or franie 2 which carries the receptacle 1 is formedprincipally of angle iron and is provided with legs 9 which are locatedat the corners of the frame and con. nected by upper and lower strips ofbars 10 and 11. The angle strip 10 at one-side is formed of widermaterial so that its upper flange 12 extends across the top of-the frameto a greater extent than the upper flanges of the other stripslO auditsdepending flange 13 extends downwardly along the side of the frame to agreater extent than the depending flangesof the strips 10. The flange 13of the strip 10 has been extended downwardly the extent shown so thatacross strip 14 may have one end secured to the flange 13, as

lOO

- cross strip 14. A. cross strip 19 extends shown at 15, and to alsoprovide a support of the frame. It will be understood that if desiredthe strip 18 may be omitted andthe outer flange of the angle strip aboveit formed of sufficient depth to extend downwardly for engagement by theend of the through the frame beneath the cross strip 14 and intransverse relation thereto and has its ends secured to the strips 11 atopposite sides of the frame. Blocks are slidably engaged with the lowerend portions of the legs 9 and have their lower ends provided withsockets to receive the casters 21. Clamping collars 22 fit about thelegs and blocks and carry set screws 23 which when tightened will serveto securely hold the blocks in adjusted positions with their lower endsextending below the legs the necessary extent in order to support theframe at the desired height and keep it level.

. The agitator 24 is formed as a disk having a diameter which willpermit of its being passed downwardly through the neck 6 into thereceptacle and between the blades 8 to a position at the bottom of thereceptacle. Referring to Fig. 1, it will be seen that the agitator hasits central portion 25 formed as a dome, the walls of which flaredownwardly and merge into a dished peripheral portion carrying'adepending annular flange 26. A

depending hub 27 is formed at the center of the agitator and is providedwith a socket 28 which opens through its lower end and is taperedupwardly. This socket is flat-sided and preferably rectangular in crosssection and is adapted to receive the flat-sided taperedupper endportion 29 of the driven shaft 30. The shaft 30 which may be termed anagitator shaft is rotatably mounted in a bearing 31 carried by thebottom 4 and axially disposed with respect to the recepta le with itsend portions extending above and below the bottom; At the upper end ofthe bearing there has been provided a stuffing box 32 which whentightened will prevent the water in the receptacle from leaking outthrough the hearing. A collar 33 is carriedby the shaft and rests uponthe upper end of the bearing 31 so that the shaft will be supported andprevented from having downward: movement through the hear,- ing. Itshould also be noted that the lower end of the hub 27 rests upon thecollar 33 so that the agitator will be supported, as shown in Fig. 1,with the lower edge of the depending flange 26 spaced slightly above thebottom of the receptacle." Therefore, the agitator will be permitted .torotate very freely in the receptacle and impart a rapid movement to thewater. In order to impart mtion to the water during rotation of theagitator, there has been provided cups 34 which are spacedcircumferentially of the agitator and disposed upon the dishedperipheral portion thereof. The cups are formed,- as shown in Fig. 2,and referring to this figure it will be seen that each cup is l.- shapedin top plan with its open side facing the direction in which theagitator is rotated. The walls of the cups taper downwardly towardstheir free ends and the cups are inclined in a direction opposite to thedirection in which the agitator disk rotates sothat, when the agitatorisin motion, the cups may serve not only to impart a whirling motion tothe water in the receptacle but also tend to direct the water upwardly.It should be further noted that while the cups are substantiallyU-shaped in top plan they are not a true U-shape but'each has its outerwall portion extending-substantially parallel to the periphery of thedisk and are then curved inwardly with the end of its inner wallextending beyond a radius of the disk which would engage the end of theouter wall of the cup. This will cause the inner side wall portions ofthe blades to enter the mass of water in advance of the outer walls ofthe blades as the'agitator rotates and, therefore, in addition toimparting a whirling motion to the water and directing the waterupwardly the inner walls will also serve to direct the water towards thewalls of the receptacle between the vertical blades 8 which in theirturn will act upon the peripheralv portion of the mass of moving waterso that it will be directedtowards the center of the receptacle. Thewater will, therefore, receive a motion which will cause it to movethrough the articles placed in the receptacle and cleanse the same veryquickly.

In order to impart rotary movement to the agitator shaft 30 and wringershe. .17, there has been provided a drive shaft 35 which is horizontallydisposed in the frame and has its outer end portion rotatably mounted ina bearing 36 carried by one of the angle strips 11 and its inner endjournaled in the side socket 37- of the bearing 3,8. The bearing 38 ismounted-upon the crossbar 19 and in additionto rotatably supporting theinner end of the shaft 35 also serves as a thrust bearing for the lowerend of the driven shaft 30. The driven shaft or agitator shaft 30between the lower end of the bearing 31 and its reduced lower endportion 39 which rotatably fits in the socket of the bearing 38 has beenformed rectangular in cross section, as shown in Fig. 3, and slidablycarries a gear 40 adapted to mesh witha gear or pinion 41 which isrigidly secured upon the drive shaft 35. The gear 40 has an upwardlyextending hub portion 42 adjacent the upper end of which. is formed acircumferentially extending with the rack 48g so that when the andle ismoved downwardly to rotate the rocker shaft and swing the arm 44upwardly the lever or handle may be engaged with the rack and therebyretain the rocker shaft in the adjusted position with the arm44supporting the gear 40 out of engagement with the gear 41. It will,therefore,'be seen that rotation of the driven shaft can. be controlled.and operation of the agitator prevented when articles to.be washed arebeing placed in the receptacle or removed from the same. A shelf orplatform 49 is mounted in the frame to support a motor 50. The motor inga pulley 51 which will be disposed opwill be released from the rack 48and moved ried by the adjacent ends of these shafts will, of course, .bemounted upon the plat-v form with its shaft extending parallel to thedrive shaft 35, the shaft of the motor carryposite a pulley 52 carriedby the shaft 35. A belt53 engages the pulleys 51 and 52 and serves totransmit rotary motion from the motor to the drive shaft. Rotary motionis transmitted from the shaft 35 to the wringer shaft 17 bymeans'ofgears 54 and 55 carand meshing with each other. 7 When thewashing machine is to be i1sed,. the receptacle 1 is partially filledwith water in which soap or any other desired cleaning agent will beplaced. The clothes or other articles to be washed are placed in thereceptacle so that they are immersed in the water and the cover 7 thenput in place. After the cover has been closed, the motor 'will bestarted and if the gear 42-is not in engagement with the gear 41 thelever 47 upwardly so that the gear 42 will be-moved downwardly intoposition for engagement with the gear 41. Tge shaft 30 will then becaused to rotate-an as .it rotates the agitator will be turned so thatthe blades or "cups 34 will act upon the water to impart a whirlingmotion to the water and also direct the water upwardly and towards the 1walls'of the receptacle. The mass of whirl-x ing water will be broken upand directed intherefore, be'very thoroughly agitated, and will be sopassed through the clothes in the receptacle that'the clothes will bevery quickly cleaned. After therclothes have been thoroughly cleaned,the water may be drained outwardly through the outlet 56 and thereceptacle then filled with clear water which will be circulated throughthe clothes by theagitator and thoroughly rinse them. The rinsingwater-is then drained off and if desired the agitator may be permittedto rotate after the rinsing water has been drained off so that air'willbe circulated through the clothes'and a portion of the moisture drivenoff. The cover is then removed and if so desired may be used as a-trayto hold damp clothes removed from the receptacle prior to passing themthrough-a wringer which is not shown but which will be mounted at aconvenient place and operated from the shaft 17. When all of the clotheshave been end of the receptacleand the agitator and interior of thereceptacle then thoroughly cleaned and the agitator put back in place.Having thus described the invention, I

claim:

.1. A washing machine comprising a ver-' tically disposed receptacle, ahorizontally disposed disk rotatably mounted in said re ceptacleadjacent the bottom thereof, cups extending upwardly from the peripheralportion of said disk and being U-sha'ped in top plane with their opensides facing circumferentially of the disk in one direc tion of rotationand adapted to-impart a whirling motion' to fluid iii said receptaclewhen the disk is rotated, the side armsof said cups being substantiallyvertical and the portions of said cups connecting the sidearmsthereofbeing inclined to extend in overhanging relation' to said disk and1mpart an upward ,thrust to the fluid,--and means to rotate said disk.

2. A washing machine comprising aver tically disposed receptacle, ahorizontally disposed disk rotatablymounted in said receptacle adjacentthe bottom thereof, cups extending upwardly from the peripheral portionof said disk and adapted to impart a whirling motionto ;fluid in thereceptacle when the disk isrotated, said cups being U-shaped in topplanjwith their open sides facing circumferentially of the disk in itsdirection of rotation and each having the free end-of its inner armextending beyond a radius of the disk intersecting the free end of itsouter arm, and means to rotate said disk. I

A washing machine comprising a vertically disposed receptacle, ahorizontally disposed disk rotatably'mounted in said receptacle adjacentthebottom thereof, cups wardly by the blades 8. The-water will,extending upwardly .from the peripheral disk in its dire tion ofrotation and having the upper edges of their inner and outer sidearmssloping' downwardlytowards their free ends, theinner arm of'rfieachcupybe ing ncting said arms extending in; overhangingstraight'throughout the greater=portionwof relation toth e disk and;adapted to impart,

- its length and the router-arm being-curved an upward thrust to thefluid. V 10 paralle'l'to the peripherzil'edge -of said disk 111testimony whereof l aifiz z my sigmav i for-aportion of its length andthen curved: cure; 1 I Q I v ln' ward ly and;merging into thehrearend rf pqrtiqn of the inner-a-rm, :the portion c0n-. SCAR A. GOVERSTONE. [15.]

